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Tenacious D
1994 - 1998 1994 Tenacious D, also known as "The D", is an American rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Comprising lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass. Tenacious D formed in 1994 when the members performed as an acoustic duo. Black and Gass met in Edinburgh, Scotland during the Edinburgh Fringe of 1989. Both were members of the Los Angeles-based theatre troupe, The Actors' Gang, and agreed to form a band. Gass taught Black to play guitar. Initially when Black and Gass performed live they covered songs by Bobby McFerrin. Up until 1994 the duo did not have a name. At one of their early shows David Cross was in attendance and later cast Jack Black in his sketch comedy television series, Mr. Show 1997 David Cross, with Mr. Show writer Bob Odenkirk, continued his involvement with Tenacious D by producing three half-hour shows based on the band. The series, entitled Tenacious D, premiered on HBO, immediately following an episode of Mr. Show. While a total of three episodes consisting of two shorts, ten to twelve minutes in length, were produced, only the first was aired that year; the final two episodes did not air until the summer of 2000. The six shorts were titled "The Search for Inspirado", "Angel in Disguise", "Death of a Dream", "The Greatest Song in the World", "The Fan", and "Road Gig". After the series aired, the band continued to perform live. At a show at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, they met Dave Grohl, who remarked that he was impressed with their performance; this led to their cameo in the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" music video. The popularity of Tenacious D further increased as they began to open for high profile acts, including Beck, Pearl Jam, and Foo Fighters. 2000 MAY Tenacious D signed to Epic Records. As Black's profile increased due to his roles in films such as High Fidelity the band worked on recording their first album with producers the Dust Brothers. 2001 They released their debut Tenacious D. It peaked at number thirty-three on the Billboard 200 on October 13, 2001. . The first single from the album was "Tribute". A music video, directed by Liam Lynch, was shot for the song. The video achieved success and was voted the fifth best music video ever by Kerrang! readers. This was followed by the second single, "Wonderboy", the music video of which was directed by Spike Jonze. A third video, an animation depicting Black and Gass as cherubs, was made for "Fuck Her Gently", directed by Ren and Stimpy-creator John Kricfalusi. The album also included "Dio", a song written as a tribute to rock singer Ronnie James Dio, which mocked him somewhat for being too old. Dio liked the song enough to ask the band to appear in the music video for his song, "Push". 2002 An EP entitled D Fun Pak was released in 2002. It featured a skit and acoustic versions of "Jesus Ranch" and "Kyle Quit The Band", as well as a megamix by Mocean Worker. 2003 OCT Black announced that the screenplay for The Pick of Destiny—a fictional portrayal of the band's formation—had been completed. The film was initially to be written and developed by Working Title Films, but Black and Gass decided to assume creative control when they were not satisfied with the writers' ideas. Filming had been expected to take place by the end of 2003, however it was delayed by almost a year due to Black being cast in Peter Jackson's big budget remake King Kong. The band started recording songs for the soundtrack of the film, their second studio album, The Pick of Destiny. The album had John Konesky and John Spiker from Trainwreck on electric guitar and bass respectively. Dave Grohl again played drums, and further lent vocals to "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)" as well as acting in the film, as Satan. 9 The Complete Masterworks, a music DVD featuring the entire run of their TV series, music videos, and a live performance from London's Brixton Academy recorded in 2002, was released. 2005 NOV The album Tenacious D had achieved platinum status in the United States 2006 NOV '''9 The film had its premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Many of the actors who had cameos in the film were in attendance; including Ronnie James Dio, Dave Grohl, and Ben Stiller. 14 The soundtrack for The Pick of Destiny is released. The soundtrack reached number eight on the Billboard 200 in the US as well as topping the iTunes chart, and number ten in the United Kingdom 22 The film was released worldwide. Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny grossed $8,334,575 in the US and Canada and a total of $13,426,450 worldwide, falling well short of its $20 million production budget and $40 million in estimated marketing costs. Financially, it is regarded as a box office bomb. 30 In an interview on the Daily Show, Black admitted the film had "bombed", 2007 '''FEB 27 The film was released globally on DVD. DVD sales have shown that the film has picked up a cult audience. To coincide with the release of their new film and album, Tenacious D embarked on their 2006–07 tour of the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This tour included the band's first appearance at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Unlike other tours, this one featured a full backing band. Konesky and Spiker resumed their roles from the album, and Brooks Wackerman was added as drummer. Each member used a pseudonym; Konesky as the Antichrist, Spiker as Charlie Chaplin, and Wackerman as Colonel Sanders. JR Reed also toured as Satan. Black has said that the band lost money on the tour due to the cost of touring with a full band for the first time. One of their songs, Master Exploder, appeared on the rhythm music video game Rock Band 2's main set list, and will also appear in Guitar Hero: Van Halen while The Metal appeared in Guitar Hero III, , "Rock Your Socks" appeared in "Rock Band Unplugged" and "Rock Your Socks", "Tribute", and "The Metal" are all able to download on to Rock Band or Rock Band 2 In November 2006, Black expressed wishes to take a year-long break from acting, though Gass hinted a desire for Tenacious D to end at their current highpoint. However, Black hinted at a third album by announcing that a new song has been written for it entitled Death Star. He said that the album would likely be released in 2010, but on other occasions he has mentioned the year 2012. 2008 In early 2008, Black announced that the band was working on a new album, and a DVD titled The Complete Masterworks Part 2. The DVD was released later that year, and included a documentary of their world tour entitled D Tour: A Tenacious Documentary. The film focuses on the tour Tenacious D made in support of the film and soundtrack and the consequences of their film's poor showing at the box office. Kyle has commented that the new album only has "one to one and a half" songs written for it, and would like to write between twelve and fifteen. The band played the main stage at the 2008 Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, playing Leeds on Friday August 22 and Reading on Sunday August 24. In addition to this, the band provided support for Metallica at Marlay Park, Dublin in Ireland on August 20. 2009 The D is currently scheduled to headline the last night of the 2009 Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, on Sunday August 30, 2009. Music magazine Billboard quoted Black as revealing that "We just laid down a hot ... we're calling it the bomb track. It's a very powerful recording called "Deph Starr" ... so it has nothing to do with the Star Wars (Death Star)," adding that "It's kind of sci-fi, doomsday rock."